Turkey announces bounty for Dahlan’s arrest
Turkey announced on Friday it would award a prize of
$700,000 for information leading to the arrest of former Palestinian official
Mohammed Dahlan, who is accused by Ankara of “participating in a 2016 coup
attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”
Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu told
Hurriyet newspaper that Dahlan would be included in the “list of wanted
terrorists”.
Dahlan, 58, was a rival to his former Fatah ally
Mahmoud Abbas.
Turkish media accuse Dahlan of involvement in the
failed coup of 2016.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) said Dahlan was quick to
respond sharply, accusing Erdogan of supporting “terrorist groups” in Syria,
stealing gold from the Libyan Central Bank, and “acting as if he was the Emir
of the faithful.”
A Palestinian court sentenced Dahlan in absentia to
three years in prison in 2016 for corruption and ordered him to pay $16
million, according to his lawyer.
Dahlan was the head of the security apparatus in the
Gaza Strip, but lost the necessary political cover after Hamas seized control
of his forces in 2007, expelling Fatah from the Gaza Strip.
